Funeral Rain Press Corps

When: July 29, 2011
Where: Pawn Shop, Edmonton, Alberta

Oh my. My oh my oh my. Exhumed return to life with All Guts, No Glory and that, thankfully, results in a tour. And surprisingly it stops in Edmonton, with fellow label mates Cephalic Carnage no less! Both are bands I’d love to see, and now finally have.
Before this night, I’d never even heard Macabre, and never even heard of Withered, and I didn’t know local metal bastards Begrime Exemious were going to be there until like two days before the show. So it turned out to be a killer night indeed.
First up, Begrime kicked some ass on the stage, pushing their brand of dirty sounding old school death metal onto the crowd that was slowly trickling in off the street. My second time seeing them live, and again I was quite impressed. I’m definitely a fan of these guys, and as an interesting note, they are label mates with Gravehill, and thus one member of Exhumed. (7)
After Begrime, Withered (who I had no idea were going to be there) took over as the night’s entertainment. They play “tortured blackened doom”, and are really fucking awesome. If you’re into feedback, heavy and loud riffs that are slower than hell, black metal shrieks, and insanely fast sections of songs, you should check these guys out. (8)
Cephalic Carnage were finally back in Edmonton, and I quite honestly could have had the concert end after they killed part of my hearing. It was a bit of a dream come true to see them, as they’ve been one of my favorite grind bands for years now, ever since I first heard Anomalies. For those that don’t know, Cephalic Carnage are a four-piece that combine death metal, grindcore, and a huge love of the herb to create some of the best metal you can hear. The crowd definitely was receptive for these guys too, as there were more than one shout of “One more song!” after the set. (9)
Macabre, a three-piece, were the wild card of the night. I’d heard of their murder metal, songs based exclusively on historic serial killers, but never heard a single song from them until the show. For the fourth time in the night I was impressed by a band. These guys were loud, and fun, like an evil version of Primus at times, crossed with a bit of GWAR. But, like GWAR, I don’t think these are guys I could buy an album from and listen to them, they’re definitely more of a live show kind of band. Hopefully they come back soon. (7)
Finally, the headliners of the night Exhumed hit the stage to destroy the Pawn Shop, and many an eardrum in the process. California’s masters of gore metal did not fail to exhilarate a single person in the venue with their fast, high energy performance and their even faster music. It would surprise me if they didn’t return within a year after seeing how insane Edmonton went for them, and again I would be there, front and center, for their whole set. Despite having my hand stepped on and my head kicked by the same asshole stage diver, or getting elbowed in the kidney by someone, or having my face whipped by the hair of the three chicks that were right beside me. All while holding a camera that ate up almost a whole pay check, and snapping photos. (8)
Fuck yeah, it was a great night. Got to hear some wicked death metal and doom, got a pair of records (Exhumed’s All Guts, No Glory and Dekapitator’s The Storm Before The Calm) and some buttons and stickers, and then got only three hours of sleep before having to go to work. I’d do it all again in a heartbeat.

I imagine the lineup for this tour is probably something of a wet dream for anyone especially captivated with blastbeat-laden modern. For me, not so much, though I do adore classic Vital Remains such as “Let Us Pray” and “Into Cold Darkness”. I arrived late, and missed the local openers Gravenloch and Tunsafun, so I was greeted with Abysmal Dawn’s soundcheck as I walked through the door. This was my second time seeing these rising stars of Los Angeles death metal, and frankly I was not impressed with their performance in March supporting Atheist. This time around was a different story. I don’t know if it was due to better sound, my state of mind, or an improvement in the last few months on the band’s part, but their set was definitely fun to headbang through, featuring signature thinking man’s death metal tracks such as “My Own Savior” and “Leveling The Plane of Existence”.

Next to hit the stage were Providence, Rhode Island (hence their clever catch phrase, “We Are Providence”, hardy har har) death metal veterans Vital Remains. I was right up against the stage, and I tried to talk to guitarist Tony Lazaro during while the band set up, urging him to play the 90′s Vital Remains anthem “War In Paradise”, but the bastard refused to make eye contact with me! Nonetheless, I was excited until the band ordered a sound guy to crank a sample of their music to the same volume as their instruments. This was a bit off putting. Last time VR was in town, they quit after two songs because their sampler wasn’t working. I assumed it was only used for intro and outro samples, sound effects, etc. Surely Vital Remains cannot mean to engage in some kind of death metal lip sync? They finally began with “Icons of Evil”, segwaying into highlights “Hammer Down The Nails” and “Dechristianize”, playing exclusively songs from their two most recent albums. A mediocre performance overall, no matter how much I wanted to enjoy it.

Last was Hate Eternal, current project of Ripping Corpse/Morbid Angel alumni Erik Rutan. Their set was rife with problems. The sound was shit, featuring triggered drums far louder than anything else, and a muddy, ugly guitar sound. However, they seemed to be the crowd favorite, and the security had no choice but to relent to numerous rule breaking stage divers and a vicious pit. At one point,  a stage diver accidentally pulled the cable out of Rutan’s guitar, but he fluidly reconnected it without allowing the mishap to interrupt his performance. Then, someone in the audience threw an unidentified projectile at Mr. Rutan, causing him to stop playing to deathgrowl “GET THE FUCK OUT MOTHERFUCKER!” and “I’LL FUCKING SEE YOU OUTSIDE MOTHERFUCKER!” over the microphone. The humorous altercation did a little to make up for their atrocious set, but didn’t do anything to sway me in favor of Hate Eternal’s music. I’ll stick to “Dreaming With The Dead”.

Origin was also playing, headlining actually, but I’m not partial to tech-death, and after the disappointment of the last two bands I elected to leave and socialiaze with my metal brohort. Overall, Abysmal Dawn was the best band of the evening, and the only enjoyable set, surprised as I am to hear myself say that. A shame that heavyweights like Vital Remains and Hate Eternal couldn’t or wouldn’t deliver, but the younger blood definitely blew them out of the water.

When: May 29, 2011
Where: The Starlite Room, Edmonton, Alberta

This show has itself a bit of a long introduction. As far as I knew, Nevermore were the headliners; I had no idea Sepultura were coming. Then I found out that Sepultura were the headliner while Nevermore and Bonded by Blood were not going to be there, and the show was to be opened by a local band called Miskatonic. They didn’t show up either.
I was on the guest list for Hate, and I was going to interview ATF Sinner, their singer, before the show (which I did). That stuff worked out just fine, after Mrs. Blaspheme and I got to the venue. As it turned out, I was the only person with a photo pass, so that made me feel really cool.
So the show was going to be Neuraxis, Keep of Kalessin (my second time seeing them), Hate, then Sepultura. Kick ass.
Neuraxis hit the stage to a big amount of applause and moshing. Turns out they were in Edmonton a couple years ago with Cannibal Corpse, gaining them a ton of fans. They got a new one out of me last night. They play a fairly technical death metal with some really fucking awesome riffs. Their vocalist is insane, which the fact they are from Montreal kind of explains things.
Keep of Kalessin took over the stage (and Neuraxis’ drum kit) to a good applause. They were in town last with Dimmu Borgir as far as I know, so this was my second time seeing them. And just like the first time, they kicked ass. Blackened death metal with some really catchy tunes, I saw a couple people singing along. Unfortunately, due to timing crap, they had to get off the stage early.
Finally, Hate, who I was so stoked to see, got to play. With Neuraxis’ drum kit. Those poor skins were beaten really hard last night.
There was some technical issues with Destroyer’s rig, but when all that shit was shoveled away they got down to some good old fashioned evil Polish death metal with more than a heaping helping of blackened elements. They wowed the crowd for the second time in two months, and were given a huge chant of “Hate! Hate! Hate!” several times.
ATF Sinner is a killer frontman, while Destroyer really helps to get the crowd moving and moshing (despite moshing not being allowed). I can’t wait for this winter, when they’re supposed to come back to North America, hopefully stopping in Edmonton once again.
After they got off the stage, another round of “Hate!” was chanted. You’d think these guys were the headliner.
But, instead, we were treated to another band. Sepultura, legends of thrash and death metal since 1984 were gracing our city with their appearance. And I was very much bored with the whole affair. I closed my eyes several times, and instead of hearing that classic Sepultura sound, I heard some generic MySpace deaththrash. Open my eyes again, and there they are, seeming to go through the motions (except for singer Derrick Green, who seemed to truly be enjoying himself). Truth be told, I couldn’t continue to bear witness to a classic band play so horribly, so Mrs. Blaspheme and I left with all the Hate, Keep of Kalessin, and Neuraxis merch I bought, as well as the Sepultura shirt that I’m wishing I didn’t grab, and went to Denny’s to finish the night off.

The Big Win: Hate. Interviewed ATF Sinner, and got his and Hexen’s autograph, as well as a bunch of merch from them, as well as the other bands.
The Big Loss: Sepultura. Lackluster performance and generic sound really made me wish they were Jungle Rot, or a similar groove metal band that still have something to prove and won’t just rest on their laurels.

When: Friday, April 29, 2011
Where: Pawn Shop, Edmonton, Alberta

The final Sonic Band of the Month of the season brought Cygnets back to the Pawn Shop’s stage. For those that don’t know, Sonic is a local radio station and from September to April they have a band of the month, picked from the local talent that fits on Sonic’s programming, and they are given a show at the end of the month.
The openers for the show were Tim Gilbertson et. al., and they were really good. A solid rock, they were about to embark on a Canadian tour the night after the Sonic show. Hopefully it’s a big success.
The second band was Summer Games, and they got a pair of new fans in myself and Mrs. Blaspheme. Two dudes, a drummer and a keyboardist/drum machinist/singer/lots of other stuff, and together they fucking ruled. Reminding me a bit of Apoptygma Berzerk at times, I think if these guys got the right chances, or made the right chances, they’d be able to go far in the EBM scene.
The third group up, Sister Gray, did impress me, but they weren’t my kind of music to begin with, so I can’t really say much about them. 80′s influenced Riot Grrl/indie rock maybe? Either way, not my favorite, but still very talented, and I hope they go far in their field. And not just because they are local, but because they deserve it.
Finally, Cygnets. As any follower of Funeral Rain Zine can tell you, I’ve been a fan of them since Mrs. Blaspheme and myself saw them open up for Apoptygma Berzerk the last time they came through Edmonton. This show is the third time we’ve seen them now, and as usual they do not disappoint. Pretty much everything is spot on, and if something goes slightly off the boys laugh it off and smooth it over, like when Logan loses his voice and ends up tearing the vocals from himself.
I’ll never get over New Wave, and as such, I’ll never stop loving these guys live. If you’re in Edmonton, or they’re in your area, and you get the chance, see Cygnets. You won’t be disappointed.

(NOTE: Tons of photos were taken, and I’m still going through them. A post will be made in the future as a photo album of the show.)

The Hawthorne Theater – Portland, Oregon – 5/1/2011

Oh, I have been looking forward to seeing The Ocean since Precambrian hit store shelves! So yeah, I was pretty damned jazzed to see this show. I was a little bummed to find out that it would be at The Hawthorne Theater since the thought of a one-hundred and ten degree sweat box with hardcore kids crammed shoulder to shoulder like a bunch of nerdy sardines just didn’t leave a favorable taste in my mouth… BUT! This was the first show since before my daughter was born that my wife and I get to see together!

Let’s just see how well the night went…

The Ocean - At first, I thought that the stage was going to be flooded with musicians since The Ocean is often known as “The Ocean Collective”. But I guess they dropped that in favor of a core line-up. Now that that is out of the way… I said it once, I’ll say it again: FUCK YES! THE OCEAN RULES!!! These European genre melding maniacs tore up what little space they had in such a short time (about twenty minutes of stage time)! I was mostly surprised at the crowd’s reaction to The Ocean’s energy! I mean, most of these kids were here to see Between The Buried And Me and Job For a Cowboy and they were eating out of The Ocean’s tentacles!

Vocalist Loic Rossetti was moving and screaming like a front man possessed! He jumped into the crowd several times and never lost a beat. He also sounded AMAZING considering his harsh to visceral vocal style! Color me impressed! Guitarist Robin Staps was crackling with energy (and covered with oceanic tats) and lead the charge, churing out riffs and on one occasion, diving across the stage to fix his unplugged and possible discombobulated guitar.

Mid way through the second to last song, bassist Louis Jucker just disappeared (according to Staps, it was to wretch his brains out in the back alley)! His presence was missed! This thick as fuck bass chugs filled in a large portion of The Ocean’s collective sound. His return about ten minutes later for the final song of the set was met with deafening approval. And even though they played the shortest set, The Ocean made the biggest impression. The line at the mech table afterward made that perfectly clear…

Cephalic Carnage - Greeting the crowd with a camcorder, vocalist Leo Leal reminded us how great it was to be back in Portland for them. “Very.” Great way to get the crowd going apparently. I was hyped already for their painted brand of Hyrogrind that apparently not many of my ilk (RE: critics) care for much. Well, fuck them! Cephalic Carnage loaded my skull full of the stickiest of icky metal and then set it ablaze with brutal fucking beats and killer vocals! Their sound transfers incredibly well to a live show, which surprised the hell out of me since I thought that they’d be too high to play straight.

Nope.

They grinded as tight as you can get and had the audience letting them know if they’d rather kill for “WEED” or “BEER” or “PUSSY” (I asked why we couldn’t just go halvesies on a drunk hooker holding a bong?)! These guys were undoubtedly tons of fun and yet another band that I can’t wait to have drop back through Portland again!

Brokeback Mountain: The Band - Oops. I meant Blow Job For A Gay Cowboy… argh! You know who I mean! Anyway, I know it’s cool to hate on Job For A Cowboy but please understand that I’m hating on them for a legitimate reason… namely because they fucking blow live. The people I was standing around were confused about if wheatear or not they played one song or three from the beginning of their set! And during their first pause, Jonny Davy asked the crowd what they wanted to hear next. “MATTER OF SPLATTER!” One over enthusiastic fan shouted over the rest. Jonny sought him out just to say “Um… you’re a fucking moron. We JUST played that song.” To which I hear someone else reply, “Maybe that’s because all of your songs sound the same, douchbag!”

…ok, that last guy was me. I couldn’t help it! Act like a douch, yer gonna get heckled. And I mean, c’mon! If one of your obvious FANS couldn’t tell that his requested song was just played, then you fail as a musician!

Anyhow, they continued with their “meh-heh” performance until another pause to stop and do whatever it was that they were doing in the back corner there, when there was another message for the band from the floor, ’GET OFF THE FUCKING STAGE ALREADY!” Jonny was visibly pissed while a good chunk of the proximity of the crowd was all smiles.

…fine! That was me too! My God, they just wouldn’t stop eating away at my soul with their lazy stage presence and trendy muscle shirts and skinny jeans (minus bassist Brent Riggs. His dizzying bass abuse was just plain cool.) Let’s just say that I was more than happy to see these guys exit.

Between The Buried And Me - Sadly, I was called home just as these guys took the stage. Next time Between The Buried And Me. Next time.
The Ocean On Facebook

Cephalic Carnage On Facebook

Job For A Cowboy On Facebook

Between The Buried And Me On Facebook